> Why is collective bargaining so weak in this industry?
I think because small companies, not workers are the actors here. If the companies themselves got together, it might be interpreted as some kind of illegal cartel. However, it's kind of interesting to consider the idea of a union of small companies (that's permitted only because they're too week vis-a-vis their customers/vendors that they can be explioted, akin to most employee/employer relationships).
Also, if you quit the business, why would keep participating in an organization that has no more relevance to you?
Amazon fronts the startup afiak and controls who gets to start the business. Unionizing this is a tough nut, what you are witnessing is not a usual labor protest--this is a Management protest.
The Independent operators are shuttering in protest rather than keep suckling.
If a company pays your startup costs, they are your only "client", they control how much your staff get paid, when they work, and where they work you do not own a business you are an employee with extra steps. Steps that only benefit Amazon.
Presumably for the same reasons that collective bargaining is broken in most US industries; lack of trust between employees, unions, companies, government together with the pervasive belief that only individual success matters.
Interesting - it could almost be like the National Association of Realtors. Perhaps similar to the National Association developed MLS and the backend APIs for Redfin and Zillow to access, a National Delivery Drivers Association could develop some sort of backend/API for facilitating delivery driver transactions for its members.
“National Delivery Drivers Union” sounds pretty good to me for a name.
This already exists. It's called The Teamsters, and was formed over a hundred years ago by people fighting many of the same problems that modern "gig" delivery drivers face today. But because companies like Amazon and Uber pretend they're strictly technology companies, people don't put the two ideas together.
(A "teamster" is someone who drives a team of horses. Think "stagecoaches" and "goods wagons.")
Why not?
“National Delivery Drivers Union” sounds pretty good to me for a name.
If you want to negotiate with leverage against Amazon, you need to actually have the leverage.
Why is collective bargaining so weak in this industry?